BIT.TRIP RUNNER

BIT.TRIP RUNNER is a jump'n'run action game in which you control CommanderVideo, the enigmatic and pixelated star of the BIT.TRIP series. As the first among the musical gameplay experiments to have a sequel created, It is perhaps the most popular of the series.

It's all about button-press timing in RUNNER. As CommanderVideo willfully sprints along inhospitable terrain, your job is to get him to jump over, slide under, shield from, or just plain flying-kick away the myriad obstacles he faces one by one. Any single error in timing that permits an obstacle to impede his path sends him flying back to the beginning of the level, frustratingly enough, but there are no limits on how many times you can try to get him through. To make this easier (and a lot more fun), each dodged obstacle plays a note that matches up to the rhythm of the background music, making getting into a groove of utmost importance while playing. There are also gold bricks strewn in your path that you can collect for a bonus score; collect them all on a level and you get to try the "Retro Challenge" bonus round, with the same gameplay except completely 2D, and without any background music to help with the rhythm.

Sam's Protip: Changing the game difficulty from "Normal" to "Easy" does not really change the levels at all. It merely removes the collectible bonus tokens from play which, granted, can pose a distraction. "Perfect" means you can't miss any token without starting over. Good luck with that!